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Disqualified voters challenge Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement provision

JURIST

Three Virginia citizens disqualified from voting due to felony convictions joined a nonprofit organization to file a lawsuit Monday in federal court against Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and several state elections officials. The action challenges the felony disenfranchisement provision of the Virginia Constitution.

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Louisiana senate reduces penalties for recreational marijuana use

JURIST

The Louisiana Senate voted 20-17 Monday to lift certain penalties for people charged with possessing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, specifically noting that they should not be jailed. Further, penalties would not increase to the felony level with subsequent arrests. Originally introduced by Rep.

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86 Years Of Split-Jury Convictions Invalidated In Oregon

The Crime Report

All non-unanimous convictions, including convictions for violent felonies, that were reached during the 86-year period in Oregon when the state allowed split-jury convictions have been overturned retroactively, invalidating hundreds of felony convictions, Zane Sparling reports for The Oregonian. .

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How The Supreme Court Changed Juvenile Justice

The Crime Report

An increasing number of Americans now believe US Supreme Court decision-making is based more on political ideology than the rule of law. Evidence that this disturbing trend is true can be found when taking a closer look at the shift in how the Court has dealt with juvenile cases dating back to 2005.

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Status quo watch

SCOTUSBlog

Share The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. The Supreme Court made substantial progress at last week’s conference to reduce the accumulation of relisted cases. But the court denied review without recorded dissent to two-time relist Alaska v.

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Silent Strength: My Time as A Prisoner’s Wife Turned Advocate

The Crime Report

My life in that underworld still widely unknown to many, began when I met an extraordinary man in the Death House at Angola, a Louisiana slave plantation turned into a prison in 1880. The Louisiana Pardon Board chairman and the prison official were convicted. Under Louisiana law, his crime was manslaughter.

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Public Defender Shortages Reaching Critical Levels: Report

The Crime Report

According to the reports, which are the result of two years of research, New Mexico is short more than 600 full-time public defenders across adult and juvenile courts, whereas Oregon is short nearly 1,300 public defenders. ” New Mexico and Oregon. hours per workday, and lawyers in Oregon would need to put in 26.6

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